The most common LSAT Reading Comp topics (in detail)

This is going to be short and sweet, but I guarantee you’re gonna get a lot of bang for your buck. If you’ve been doing your LSAT PrepTests, you’ll notice that there are four LSAT Reading Comprehension passages per section and that each section contains one question from the following categories: Natural Science, Social Science, Humanities and Law. That’s where most LSAT prep courses stop, but I wanted to dig a little deeper.

What you’ll find below is a comprehensive categorization of many of the Reading Comp passages that have appeared on the LSAT: Computers, Internet, Copyright Law Judge, Jury, Lawyer, Courts Law and Literature, Critical Legal Studies Legal and Political Theory / Systems Slavery and Civil Rights Psychology Economics American Colonies Immigrants Women Doing Impressive Things Throughout History Women's Education Medieval Times Native American Land Other Native American Passages Authors Mixing Literary Genres Latin American Lit vs. Spanish Lit Objectivism / Subjectivism Environmentalism Radiation Thurgood Marshall's Legal Strategies Bruno Bettelheim and Fairy Tales Parallel Computing Animals and Bacteria Art Graduate-Level Education Music Author/Poet/Artist and Interpretations of Work Miscellaneous (I have not placed these in any category) Whew! Ok, so why did I bother to write all these out? Well, if there are any categories in there that you’re particularly unfamiliar with, you can seek out those practice questions and brush up on the terminology related to that particular subject. You’re much more likely to be comfortable with a question if you are at least a LITTLE familiar with the subject matter. I’m not saying you have to become an Art major, but having a basic understanding of what Cubism was or what Manet painted might give you an edge when these sorts of questions come back. And they will come back. Just like the sequel to a bad horror movie, you can guarantee that virtually all of these subjects will get used in future LSATs in some shape or form. If you go here, I’ve listed most of the passages used in various official LSAT PrepTests. If you have them, this is a great way to go deeper into RC, but even if you haven’t got them yet, it’s a great look at the kinds of topics the PrepTest makers like to include (and how often they’ve appeared). Talk soon, Steve P.S. Next time, I’ll share some strategies for handling the toughest type of RC question – inference questions (Most Strongly Supported in particular). Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Reading Comprehension Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

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7 Habits of Highly Successful LSAT RC Scorers

While it might seem bit cliché, good habits can make the difference between an okay LSAT score and one that you want to put on the refrigerator like elementary school noodle art. Some of these I’ve gone over, some I haven’t. A little repetition is never bad thing, especially when it comes to LSAT Reading Comp. So, without further ado, let’s jump in!

1. Recognize the passage’s main point. This is now the third time I’ve brought this up recently. You know why? Because it’s that important! Once you’ve identified the overarching theme of the passage everything else becomes much, much easier. 2. Keep track of various opinions presented by various groups Once you identify a group with an opinion, give them a name as it will make it easier to keep up with them. If they love motorcycles, call them the Cyclists. If they are searching for a subterranean civilization, call them The Mole Men. Whatever helps you easily identify who they are and what they believe. THEN whenever one of them presents some evidence, mark it and attribute it to the right group. At the end of the passage you’ll have a clear idea of who believes what and why. Which brings me to my next point… 3. Have a consistent and effective note-taking strategy The LSAT is timed. You do not have time to re-read every single Reading Comp question to find every single answer. There’s no wrong way to take notes as long as it is quick and easy-to-understand. It doesn’t matter if anyone but you understands what you’re writing. If you can get to the end of the passage and have a shorthand for what you read you’ll be flying. And just as important, feeling confident. 4. Stay within the information provided in the passage Sometimes you’ll get a passage where you actually know a little bit about topic. Believe it or not, this can actually hurt you rather then help you, since it becomes tempting to include your own knowledge in your answers. WRONG. Support each inference you make only with information from the passage. To make sure you’re doing this, mentally cite the line or paragraph from which you’re drawing your conclusion. 5. As in Logical Reasoning, focus on structure, not content In all likelihood, you’re going to be reading about subjects that are obtuse and downright boring. They’ll be complicated and unnecessarily confusing. To combat this, break apart each paragraph like a Logical Reasoning question. Don’t worry about the details of the argument, just identify the parts of it so you can answer the question and get out of there. 6. Get a sense of where questions will come from as you read the passage. This is where practice comes in handy. The more Reading Comprehension questions you do, the more you’ll start to see patterns emerging. You’ll be able to identify important sections and pay close attention to them and you’ll know that’s where the answers to the questions will likely be coming from. It’s no different then any other competition. If you know your opponent’s tendencies (in this case, the LSAT), you’ll be better prepared to counter-attack. It doesn’t matter if you play chess, football, or Call of Duty. Know Thy Enemy.  7. Practice, practice, practice Maybe more than any other part of the LSAT, Reading Comprehension can be made much easier by simply doing a lot of them. The types of questions you can be asked are relatively limited and you’ll see them asked the same way again and again. Unfortunately, there’s no shortcut, but if you put in the work, you will see an improvement If you need some more to read up on, go check out this article with more RC tips and tricks.  (I mentioned some already, but there’s a lot of nuggets of wisdom I couldn’t get to today.) Next time, we’ll get into categorizing the various Reading Comprehension passages you’re likely to see. Why? Go back to #6…Know Thy Enemy. -Steve "the best is still to come" Schwartz P.S. Can’t wait for my next one? Looking to go deeper?  I created an LSAT Reading Comprehension Cheat Sheet a little while ago. It shows killer techniques to help you: 1 - understand the structure of each passage 2 - know when NOT to use strategies because they’ll take too long 3 - know the RIGHT strategy to use at the right time It boils things down to the basics. Without forcing you to read hundreds of pages. Without trying to memorize everything. Result ... you solve more questions in less time - and get a higher % correct. Big difference. You can get a copy here: LSAT Reading Comprehension Cheat Sheet Enjoy! [To be continued...] P.P.S. We’ve only covered a few topics so far, and there’s a lot more to dive into. I’ll be covering RC more in the future, but there’s no reason you can’t get my best resources in the meantime.

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How to solve LSAT Reading Comp questions like a boss

The Sphinx of legend, the wise man on the mountain, the Cheshire Cat, and the LSAT. What do they all have in common? They like to make simple things really confusing. While this is kind of the point, that doesn’t make it any less annoying. LSAT time, I went over a few of my strategies for Reading Comprehension. (Here’s a related article on them for a quick refresher.) Anyway, the last one was about the types of Reading Comp questions you’re likely to see and I wanted to make sure we got this covered, since it tends to trip people up.

Main Point Questions These questions usually ask about the author’s viewpoint or whichever viewpoint was given the most attention in the passage. People often fall for choices that describe specific parts of the passage instead of the whole thing. *Once you know it’s a main point question, go for the answer that they talk about most. I know it sounds overly simple but the easiest way to get this question wrong is to overthink it. Primary Purpose / Function Questions These questions are similar to Main Point questions except that they use more general language and tend to speak more abstractly. The verbs in the answer choices are really important here. You’re more likely to be looking at the why instead of the what of an argument. Inference Questions Here we go. Inference questions can be really tricky if you aren’t paying attention. That's because they don’t actually ask for any new information. Instead, they ask you to draw a conclusion based on the information you’re given. That’s fine, except the LSAT will often give you this information indirectly, which can make it hard to spot. The LSAT likes to tell you something the author doesn’t believe, and then it is on us to infer that the opposite is what they do believe. This “reading between the lines” can be difficult, but as soon as you know what you’re looking for it immediately becomes a lot easier. No matter what kind of questions you’re answering, it can always help to take a step back and get in the head of the test-maker. When you’re worried about the minutiae of the question, you can get tangled up in the details of the argument and completely miss the big picture. You can’t see the forest for the trees. (If you’ve got your LSAT PrepTests handy, you can follow along with some examples I shared In an article covering this topic, just follow this link.) Coming up next, I’m gonna share some good habits you can get into to start acing these questions. Happy Reading! Steve “LSAT Machine” Schwartz P.S. If you’re looking for more help with understanding RC questions, how to avoid tempting wrong answers, etc., check out the LSAT Reading Comprehension explanations I’ve got for most PrepTests. They cover all 5 answer choices in detail.

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My 5 biggest LSAT Reading Comp Strategies

And we’re back! We’re continuing our series on LSAT Reading Comprehension with a little list action. I’ve been all over the internet lately, and man, do people love lists. The 10 Smartest Dogs You’ve Ever Seen, 15 Embarrassing Celebrity Photos, The 6 Best Foods For Memory…it’s all lists! Let’s get to it!

1. Look for the key words that indicate a degree of certainty. These include words like some, most, all, always, never and the difference between singular and plural. There’s a big difference between "I binge-watched some of Game of Thrones and I binge-watched ALL of Game of Thrones.” 2. Keep an eye out for the passage’s main idea Make a note whenever the author summarizes a point of view: “Although some scholars propose…” Identify any bits of evidence used to support a point of view Figure out whether or not the author agrees with each point of view. This one can be the trickiest. Basically, if a point is made with no proponent, then its the author’s opinion. 3. Look at the relationship between the evidence and conclusion in each paragraph. Here’s a few questions you can ask yourself: What is the evidence for the paragraph? Does the conclusion follow from this evidence? Does the author promote any guiding principles? Does the passage contain sub-conclusions? Does the author mention any counter-arguments? What is the passage’s argument or goal? This isn’t a comprehensive list, but is a good indicator of the things you should be thinking about reading these. 4. How to spot tempting incorrect answers Much like Logical Reasoning, Reading Comp questions are usually wrong for the same handful of reasons:         - extreme statements not supported by evidence          - irrelevant info outside scope of discussion           -the exact opposite of the passages argument           - minor changes to info supported by the passage           - illogical or random combination of passage’s arguments           - false attributions of individual’s points of view 5. Know the different types of Reading Comprehension questions Main point / Main idea These tend to be the easiest, I’d recommend knocking these out first to both to build your confidence and save some time. Specific / “according to” The most straightforward question type. These usually follow the passage’s structure and ask about part of the author’s argument. Inferences These tend to be toughest because they as you to make a prediction based on the argument such as “The author would agree with which one of the following statements?” Next time, I'll dive a little deeper on question types, since I really don’t feel like a quick blurb on a list does them justice. Til next time! Steve “Comprehension Champion” Schwartz P.S.Here are some strategies for RC questions in the meantime ---> Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Reading Comprehension Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

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LSAT Reading Comp lemons - how to make lemonade

Hello again! We’re about to dive into a whole series on Reading Comp, and judging by the feedback I've been getting lately, the timing couldn’t be better. The problem with LSAT Reading Comp sections is that they are so, so boring. Why can’t they be interesting? Well the honesty truth is they’re boring on purpose. When you become a hotshot lawyer, you’re going to have to read through hundreds of pages of technical documents. Being able to understand, and recall, this information is really important. So, my first - and most important - tip for doing Reading Comp is that when the LSAT gives you lemons, you make that lemonade. You have to convince yourself that you’re all about what you’re reading and become invested in the subject matter. I don’t care if it’s voting practices from the 1930s or scientists studying poisonous frogs in the rainforest, you have to look at every passage like it matters to you. Another thing you need to be able to do is identify viewpoints. There are a few different ways you might see things phrased, and knowing the structure can help. For example: People used to think X, but now they think Y The old thought it replaced with a new one In question form, that might read: My friends used to think sushi was gross, but after actually trying it, they think it’s awesome. Another option is opposing viewpoints: One group believes X, while another believes Y. Here’s another one of my patented ridiculous examples: One group of people believe that burritos are the superior Mexican food, while other believe tacos to be the best. Viewpoint 1 - Burrito Believers Viewpoint 2 - Taco Truthers Any arguments someone made for the burrito i.e. size and ability to be smothered in salsa, I would label “pro burrito” and any arguments that were made for the taco (like portability and variety of toppings), I would call “pro taco.” It’s silly, but breaking down the passage into its core components really helps. I go into a little more detail on this here ---> You can also check out the comments section, which almost always has some great nuggets of wisdom from by bright and engaging readers (that’s you!). We’re going to get into all kinds of aspects of Reading Comprehension over the next few weeks, so if you have any specific questions, reach out to me and I’ll try to cover them in the future. Talk soon! Steve “Professor LSAT” Schwartz Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Reading Comprehension Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. LSAT Vocabulary Builder A handbook that guides you through confusing LSAT language, but not by forcing you to memorize hundreds of words. Instead, this comprehensive guide focuses on the LSAT's most commonly-used words and phrases and gives you their meanings on the LSAT.

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My 6 shortest LSAT Logical Reasoning tips

Hello again! We’ve been digging into specifics on LSAT Logical Reasoning like Sufficient V=vs Necessary Assumptions and Conditions, Vocabulary, Topics and more. Today, I’m gonna take a more macro view and give you some good quick tips for conquering the Logical Reasoning section. If you only have a minute right now, just scan the bolded headings. Otherwise, go deeper to get all the (juicy) details). Let’s get to it!

1. Use the order of difficulty to your advantage The first 10 questions are the easiest, so don’t use valuable time double or triple checking your answers. For every minute you save on these easier questions that’s a minute you can spend working through the more difficult ones on the end. 2. Thoroughly read through the stimulus Unlike Reading Comp, which uses terminology you might not necessarily need to know on the initial read, every word of Logical Reading questions is important. Way too many mistakes are made just by going too fast and missing important details. 3. The topic of the stimulus doesn’t matter It’s easy to get confused when the subject matter is obtuse. Things like science-based topics can throw a lot of hard-to-understand vocabulary and concepts at you. They are there precisely to confuse you. When this happens, identify the only two things that really mater: the evidence and the conclusion. The rest of it is just distracting fluff. 4. Eliminate all words that are irrelevant to the argument This piggy-backs off of my last point. If it’s not evidence and it’s not conclusion then you don’t need to worry about it. Once you identify the parts of the argument you need to focus on you can begin to move much quicker. 5. Study smarter When you study, keep track of how confident you are on certain questions. This helps a ton when you go back and look at old tests because you’ll start to see patterns emerge for the types of questions you struggle with most. One of my favorite techniques is mark the questions you answered where you weren’t 100% certain. If you have the answers narrowed down, use a “/“ to indicate which ones you were deciding between. For instance, were trying to decide between B and C, then write down “B/C” by the question. If you liked one answer better than the other, put that one first. 6. Don’t diagram Logical Reasoning questions too often There are certainly times to diagram a Logical Reasoning question. Namely, when there are stimuli involving multiple conditional statements that can be linked in some way. You’ll see that in Sufficient Assumption questions, Must Be True Questions and Parallel Reasoning questions. Outside of these, save yourself the time and skip the diagram. Some of the above questions can even be answered reliably without a diagram with enough practice. This buys you time which, when taking the LSAT, is invaluable.  Did those help? Well guess what? There’s a whole lot more where that came from.  Because I am obsessed with helping you own the LSAT, I have compiled a huge list of LR articles for you to review. You can read them all right here.  And that wraps up this series on Logical Reasoning! I hope you learned, laughed and then learned some more. What’s coming next? Who knows! If you’re struggling with anything in particular, let me know and I’ll try and work it into the next series. You’ve got this! Steve “LSAT Black Belt” Schwartz P.S. If you haven’t been to my site in a while, check it out again. I’ve complied all kinds of great resources over there: books, courses, and a whole lot of free advice. These articles are great because I bring the knowledge straight to you, but if you need some more study resources, those links have exactly what you need. Go check 'em out and let me know what you think!

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How to solve LSAT Necessary Assumption Questions like a boss

We’re back at it again! Today we’re going to put a very useful tool in your tool belt. I’d like to introduce you to The Negation Test and it’s ability to help you master Necessary Assumption Questions. As the name implies, the test works by having you negate each of the answer choices you’re given. The correct answer choice is the one that when negated, renders the argument invalid. In other words, the argument can’t be valid if the necessary assumption isn’t true.

Practically speaking, how do we put this to tool to good use? When reading each answer choices, ask yourself “Does this need to be true for the evidence to require the conclusion?” If the answer could not be true, but the conclusion still works, then this IS NOT the answer. If when the answer isn’t true, then the conclusion can’t be true either, and you’ve got your answer. Again, the correct answer HAS to be true in order for the argument to work. Now, when you’re doing this, there is a very easy trap to fall into: polar opposites vs. logical opposites. Polar Opposites are things like taking the opposite of “all people are standing” to be “no people are standing.” This is the extreme opposite case and is not what we want. Logical Opposites are things like taking the opposite of “all people are standing” to be “not all people are standing.” A logical opposite is simply what it would take to make the first statement untrue. In this case, all we need is one person to not be standing for the first statement to be false. If you get those down, then you are on the right track! And if you’re ready for something harder, try out negating conditional statements in answer choices. That’s one of the hardest LSAT things there is. Keep it up! Steve “LSAT Decoder” Schwartz P.S. Next time, we’re going to get into some nice, bite-sized material about some easy, yet effective tips and tricks for tackling Logical Reasoning. Specifically, lists. Because who doesn’t love lists? Recommended Resources: 1. LSAT Courses The best of my LSAT material with exclusive access to attend my Live Online LSAT Master Classes + Q&As, and on-demand video lessons you can watch anytime. Plus, LSAT study plans to keep you on track. Save hundreds of dollars with an LSAT course package. 2. Logical Reasoning Explanations The explanations that should have come with the LSAT. These don't just fall back on "out of scope," but actually tell you why the wrong answers are wrong, why the right answers are right, and the easiest way to get the correct answer. 3. Logical Reasoning Cheat Sheet Based on what I'd typically do in college: read what the professor emphasized and condense it all onto a single piece of paper. It gave me a quick reference, making things a lot less threatening and a lot more manageable.

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